Steve Herne

Communities of Practice in Art and Design and Museum and Gallery Education.

This article draws on a wider body of research that explores whether art and design teachers (art teachers) and museum and gallery educators (gallery educators) hold conflicting conceptions of ‘critical and contextual studies’. The data analysis focuses on what interviewees said about each other in relation to crossing boundaries between institutions, subject and pedagogical content knowledge, conceptions of the discipline of art and design, the role of gallery education in curriculum development and influence over the development of the pedagogical identities of students. The social theories of communities of practice, discourse and boundary objects are used to explore and conceptualise the complexity of the interaction between the two groups. The article concludes that trans‐institutional and inter‐professional communities of practice can be established that have the potential to generate new forms of engagement, shared repertoire and joint enterprise.

Breadth and Balance? The Impact of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies on Art in the Primary School

This paper presents the findings of a small-scale qualitative research enquiry into some of the effects on the primary school art curriculum of the introduction of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies in 1988 and 1999. Five art curriculum co-ordinators and an additional part time specialist art teacher, drawn from five inner city primary schools in two London boroughs, were the subject of a semi-structured interview designed to elicit data on the broad changes in primary art education. Key external factors were the introduction of the Art National Curriculum in 1992, its subsequent development and its current condition during a period of ‘relaxation’ of the Orders, following the governments introduction of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies. Little official attention has been given to other, perhaps unintended, outcomes of the latter strategy across the curriculum. This study gives an insight into the experience and perceptions of some of those carrying the responsibility for leadership of art in school in the primary phase.

A Toe in the Water: Introducing Exhibitions on Video with Young People at the Whitechapel Art Gallery

This paper focuses on the production of introductory videos for gallery exhibitions through collaborations between young people, professional artists and gallery staff. Fundamental to this process is the quality of encounter young people involved have with original works of art, artists and gallery staff. Their enquiries about the work on show and critical response is valued by the gallery and its diverse audiences for its unique and individual perspective. Students are invited to explore and familiarise themselves with the work prior to articulating their ideas and views on video within the exhibition spaces. Recorded footage is then edited to a professional standard and shown in the gallery during the run of each show. The videos are also posted out to local schools, marketed as peer-led introductions to each exhibition, in order to offer up questions and ideas to students and teachers prior to their gallery visit. A commissioned, external evaluation of the videos, against their stated aims and objectives, was undertaken by Goldsmiths Colleges Art in Education team.